100 Black Women Professors NOW

100 Black Women Directors NOW

2027 cohorts: Registrations now open

A national systemic change programme, creating the conditions for progression in higher education

Black Women Academics | PhDs | Professional Services

Whether you are a Black woman academic, a PhD researcher or working in professional services, register your interest now and we will send you the next steps for your route.

If your university is already participating, we will send you the application information.

If your university has not yet signed up, you can still register your interest. We will let you know what needs to happen next and how your institution can get involved.

What you'll experience

100 Black Women Professors NOW works on two things at the same time: your progression and the conditions around you.

You will join a powerful cross-sector community of Black women, gain dedicated time and expert support to focus on your progression, and have access to tools, coaching, sponsorship and allyship designed to help remove barriers as well as build opportunity.

Progression Scorecard™

A transparent analysis of how your experience maps against your university’s criteria for your next role, helping you identify gaps, priorities and actions.

Career Reformer Residential

A three-day residential experience with peers from across the sector, creating space to connect, reflect and refocus on who you are and where you are heading.

One-to-one coaching

Work individually with an experienced Black woman career coach on the areas that matter most to your progression.

Growth Environment™ Labs

Facilitated peer sessions that give you protected time to think, be heard and work through your progression experiences.

Leadership Sponsorship

A senior university leader acts as your sponsor, supported by WHEN to understand how to open doors, increase visibility and create opportunity.

Intentional Allyship

Choose someone senior close enough to your working context to understand the barriers you face and actively remove them.

Choose your route:

Academic

For Black women academics who want to progress towards senior academic leadership and the professoriate.

PhD Candidate

For Black women doctoral researchers building their next step in academia or higher education.

Professional Services

For Black women in professional services who want to progress into more senior leadership and director-level roles.

From 25 to 100+ Black women professors

25 Black women professors in 2018/19 → 115+
Black women professors today.
89% Cohort promotion rate
60% Retention turnaround rate

A sector-leading, multi award-winning systemic change programme delivering results

Higher education has made progress on gender equality. But that progress has not been shared equally.

In 2018, there were just 25 Black women professors in the UK, compared with 12,500 white men.

WHEN created 100 Black Women Professors NOW in response to that stark inequality.

Rather than focusing on individual development alone, we designed a systemic approach that works with Black women, their managers and institutional leaders at the same time creating the conditions for progression while tackling the barriers around them.

The result is a programme designed not simply to support individual careers, but to change representation across the sector.

Read the evidence

We don’t ask Black women to fix a systemic problem

100 Black Women Professors NOW is WHEN’s pioneering systemic change programme, created to increase the progression and representation of Black women across the academic pipeline.

Since the programme began in 2021, the number of Black women professors in UK higher education has more than tripled.

We create greater equity by working at both individual and institutional level:

With Black women: providing career coaching, sponsorship, mentoring, community, progression insight and dedicated support to help women move forward.
With universities: working with line managers, senior leaders and Vice-Chancellors to build understanding, strengthen accountability and take action on the barriers shaping progression.

The aim is not simply to help individual women navigate the existing system. It is to change the conditions around them so that progression becomes more possible.

What makes this approach different

100 Black Women Professors NOW was designed specifically around the progression barriers facing Black women in UK higher education.

Its distinctiveness comes from four things:

A specific focus on Black women. The programme is designed around the experiences of one of the most under-represented groups in the professoriate, rather than applying a generic leadership model.
Built from sector evidence. The approach responds directly to the issues and recommendations identified in the Staying Power research, which drew on the experiences of a large proportion of Black women professors in the UK.
Cross-institution community and accountability. Participants learn alongside peers from multiple universities, creating a national community for shared learning, challenge and support.
Systemic action, not individual development alone. The programme requires active engagement from three groups: participants, line managers and senior institutional leaders, so that progression is supported at both individual and organisational level.

2027 Cohorts: Registrations now open

The programme runs annually from January to December, and registrations of interest are now open for the 2027 cohorts.

If your university is already participating, we’ll send you the application information for your chosen route.

If your university has not yet signed up, you can still register your interest. We’ll use that demand to help identify where Black women want access to the programme and, where there is sufficient interest, approach institutions about participating.

Many universities do not yet have a clear picture of the Black women in their academic, PhD and professional services pipelines. Registering your interest helps make that talent and ambition more visible.

Women who came before you

What participating universities say

Kendi Guantai, now a Professor and PVC at the University of Lancaster:

"Before I joined the 100 Black Women Professors NOW programme, I was on my way out of academia"

Dr Paulet Brown-Wilsher, Senior Lecturer and also now Director of Education and Experience University of East London:

“Aimed at amplifying the voices and visibility of Black women in academia, the programme was central to my transformation.”

Professor Sir Steve West CBE, Vice-Chancellor of the University of West England, called his university out for being institutionally racist under his own leadership.

Here's what happened next.

IN DEVELOPMENT FOR 2027

100 Disabled Women Leaders NOW

We are developing a new national systemic change programme focused on the progression of disabled women in higher education.

Built on the same principles as 100 Black Women Professors NOW, the programme will combine participant development, powerful community and institutional action to address the barriers shaping progression.

Be the first to know more